I have recently had a few interactions that have left me feeling the need to advocate, once again, for early childhood education. I am having trouble trying to explain that we are not just a daycare, we are a school: we provide education to children, we nurture relationships, and we teach children the necessary skills to be successful in life.
You might only see us sitting in a group singing silly songs such as "Down By the Bay" but we know that by singing that song with toddlers we are teaching them the necessary skills of rhyming that will then lead to stronger reading skills once they enter kindergarten.
You might come to pick up your child from the playground and you see a child crying in the sandbox - you may think that we aren't doing our jobs or that those children aren't being well cared for, however, what you didn't see is that child asking to use the dump truck and another child telling them "No, I'm not finished yet." The crying child has been told that they will need to wait to use the truck. To that child, those emotions are real and important. Learning to deal with disappointment is an important skill - isn't it better to learn how to handle disappointment in a safe place such as the sandbox at school?
New teachers have asked me before why I sing the same song over and over with children. Aren't there other songs we can introduce? It is through repetition that we learn. A professional basketball player is going to practice free throws over and over and over, even though she has done them every day since she was 10 years old. In singing the same song over and over, children are learning the tune, the words, the rhymes, etc.
I know we aren't perfect. There are over 60 children at MVS during the day. There are moments we miss and interactions that could have been better. We have teachers that are new to the field that haven't received years of education and time to reflect on their practice. However, we are working every day to be better. We are constantly observing ourselves, the children, and our interactions, all while considering what we could do differently to improve our teaching and our relationships with the children.
Our society does not value early childhood education the same way that it values elementary or secondary education. I am not quite sure the best way to change the mindset that assumes that what we do is just babysitting. Young children live in the present, and as teachers we help them build skills and dispositions for future success. Our time together is valuable for both the present and future. If we can all work together to begin to recognize the importance of this time period in children's lives, maybe that's the start of broader change.
Thanks for reading,
Sarah
News and Reminders
We will be closed on Monday, May 28 for Memorial Day and Friday, June 22 for an in-service day.
Keeping track of everyone's outdoor gear and clothing is an on-going challenge. We always appreciate you helping us out by labeling everything (everything!) and returning items that have made it home with you that are not yours. If you're not sure who they belong to then please ask a teacher for help. Thank you!
Kitchen Updates
A reminder of life's simple pleasures: slurping spaghetti and getting lost in spectacular chili!
Infant I by Megan
We had a calm and pleasant week in Infant I. Our children played hard and slept well, fueled by lots of fresh outside air. An interest that developed over the course of the week was passing toys to and from each other. As often happens, it started with one child passing toys to teachers over and over again, until he got the idea to hand them to a friend, then that friend passed them to someone else, and by Friday our eleven-month-olds were working very hard to give toys to the five-month-old. Passing a toy to someone might sound like a simple act, but there are lots of social skills involved: getting the other person's attention vocally or through gestures, making eye contact, offering the toy, waiting for the other person to take it, and gesturing that you'd like it back. In our room the children have a very minimal sense of possession; they seem to have been drawn to this activity simply for the sake of interacting with each other. We really enjoyed watching them develop this interest.
Infant II by Amanda
This week our focus has been on spending as much time outside as possible. We have continued working very hard with the children on getting dressed and undressed independently and this week we noticed they all made great progress, including our younger children. The older children have been working hard to use the potty independently; we will continue to encourage and support them enthusiastically. Interests this week included helping others get back up after falling, banging various objects on the tunnel outside to make loud noises, rolling or kicking balls back and forth, and helping each other get dressed and undressed. The biggest hit was painting with feet and hands outside on cardboard, then washing off by playing in the water table.
We had an active and lively week. We have been excited to get outside first thing in the morning and have really enjoyed the extra fresh air. (Please plan on dropping off your child outside on the back playground going forward.) This week we tried having snack outside and it went really well. The children were excited to try something new and liked eating at the big picnic table. We continue to work on being kind and gentle to our peers and teachers.
Preschool I by Shannon E.-F.
It is finally warm! Shifting to "summer" (spring) self-care from winter self-care has thrown us a touch off kilter– we're seeing a spike of silly behavior in the bathroom. Team Shannon is really encouraging the children to focus on the routine: potty, hands, and then leave the bathroom. Unfortunately we've also seen some spitting and hitting this week, and we're working hard to understand and address this testing behavior. We are giving lots of reminders that each child is responsible for his or her own actions–yes, even at three years old–and reminding ourselves that children are testing in order to find that line. As adults, this is our opportunity to scaffold their growing independence and help them find their balance of autonomy vs. craving attention (see here for more on Erikson's psychosocial stages of development). Supporting a sense of responsibility for their own actions now is an important piece of future success.
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| A fairy house. There are even monsters under the bed. Ask LF about how those got there.... |
Preschool II by CG
I hope you don’t mind a longer note this week. During the first couple of weeks as teacher in Preschool 2, I am observing each individual child throughout the day, noticing what makes them thrive. I have identified some class wide goals for this group of bright, sensitive, emotional children in the various developmental domains. Additionally, I bring some goals that I have for every group of young children, including independence, self-direction, literacy and number sense, and critical thinking. Here is my sense of where we find ourselves:
As a group, this class is working on building listening skills. In the classroom, time is balanced between self-directed choice times and times to follow directions. Sometimes the directions are given in the form of a gross-motor game. In the games, the group needs to sometimes move as a whole, and sometimes in parts. When we play games this way, it helps reduce anxiety later on when one child needs to follow different directions from another. At nap, a narrated story time without pictures also helps with listening skills. I encourage the children to close their eyes and make the pictures in their minds as I read to them. There are various reactions at this time, from “I can't!” to “I can see it!”
All of the children have a lovely beginning for conflict management. They struggle to know what the next step is when using their words doesn’t work. We are working together to build tools for conflicts that are beyond their skillset. One way I approach this is by using toys in the classroom (or even twigs on the play yard!) to create a little play illustrating scenarios I have seen during the day. The toys sometimes argue, yell, or even push each other. The kids laugh, engage in the story, chime in with suggestions, and re-create it themselves afterward. They can give perspective on the toy’s behavior without feeling sensitive or ‘in trouble.’
Mathematically, the group understands the concepts of A LOT, ALL and NONE. Socially/emotionally, they understand KIND and NOT KIND. Much of the group needs support with what lies in between. The class enjoys laughing together and being silly. Sometimes this leads to inappropriate sounds, words and behaviors. The challenge for the children is knowing when to stop. We are learning some silly songs and games to provide opportunities to laugh together without escalating to out-of-control. Often these songs and games happen outside, where there is plenty of space. Inside, art materials are available for explorative experiences, but a child may also be asked to write their name or create a face from found objects, so they can experience intentionality.
This week, we started talking and playing about self-regulation through the lens of the zones of regulation. In the green zone, they are calm, happy, busy, working, playing: they are in go mode. In the yellow zone, they may be getting more silly, excited, nervous or worried — they can still play but may need to slow themselves in some way. The red zone, they are out of control and need to stop themselves or may be stopped by a grownup. I’m seeing immediate identification with this system from some children and am brainstorming games and materials to bring it into next week. For other children, this simply sounds like the rules of the road!
There’s so much more to say but I will stop here and look forward to connecting with you more.
PreK by Jen
Ah! Outdoor play! I can't begin to express how wonderful it's been for our bodies and our spirits. But before we get to highlights– I'd also like to express how wonderful it's been having Maddie along on our adventures. She is kind and gentle, patient an caring, and so much fun. Plus, she knows lots of great games! And with that said...
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| Here she is leading a game of Sharks and Minnows. |
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| Most of the week we spent outside, but we did make time on Monday for a visit from the Stowe Kindergarten teachers, Mrs. Keaton, Mrs. Bradford, and Mr. Dacales (along with Echo the Owl, of course). They told us a little about their classrooms and answered our questions about kindergarten. |
Initially we'd planned to spend Tuesday on the Rec Path, but the children voiced their opinions and decided unanimously to venture to Sunset Rock instead.
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| We ate snack overlooking Stowe... |
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| ... played Hide and Seek... |
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| ... and found a tree that we thought looked like an upside down person with their head in the ground. We also read a few pages of The Hole in the Tree. |
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| We looked at the holes in several trees and talked about which creatures we thought might have made them. |
On Wednesday we visited the library for story time with Julie. We split into two groups for our trip back to school. One group stopped along the way for a game of Sharks and Minnows while the other group was amazed by two beautiful deer crossing Depot Road right in front of them! Thursday and Friday were back out in the woods. Thursday we walked the loop at the Woof trail.
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| We made a fairy house... |
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| ... and a fort. |
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| On the way back this group spent a considerable amount of time investigating the rain water and cheering on these bubbles as they miraculously made their way all the way along the storm drain gate and onto the pavement on the other side. "Go bubbles go!" |
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